Blues Practice Predictable After Another Disheartening Loss Monday

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- It was obvious from the get-go what the practice day on Tuesday was going to look like for the St. Louis Blues.

There were plenty of 1-on-1 battle drills, hard, heavy, competing, guys grinding. And it was lengthy. But at the end, what’s usually icing on the cake for what normally translates into 30-40 minutes on the ice was hitting into the hour mark.

And this ending was, well, let’s just say something that would put any athlete down for the remainder of the day when finished.

First, there was 2-on-2, but this was a set of skaters with the puck, being chased from behind by another set, then reverse course and go back with the other two, wave after wave for roughly 15 minutes:

Oh, but that wasn’t the finish, now came the bag skate portion, with quick quarter-length sprints:

Guys were gassed. Predictably.

What was also probably predictable was what kind of practice coach Jim Montgomery and the coaches would be running on this day, some 14 hours after another dispirited loss, 5-2 against the Vancouver Canucks to end a three-game homestand 0-3-0, including losses to the Vegas Golden Knights (4-2) and Dallas Stars (2-0).

The loss left the Blues at 23-24-4, still five points behind the Calgary Flames for the second wild card from the Western Conference, but it was obvious what the objection was.

“This practice was kind of designed, probably at least a week ago,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Just with the three days between games we figured after the game last night, coming back with a real hard, intense battle practice. If there’s an area of our team and the stats that we keep that we need to improve, it’s our battle percentage, and that’s not only 1-on-1 battles but we count second-quick battles, which is … you and I are in a battle and who’s the next teammate that’s going to come get the loose puck. It’s usually a 50/50 battle and second teammate coming in makes it a 75-95 percent battle percentage. We’re working on those two things primarily because it’s an area we feel like we can have a lot of growth in and that’s why the practice was set up this way. When you have a hard practice like this and we skated at the end with the ability to have three days in between, we know we’re going to practice really hard on Thursday, so that was kind of why we developed a practice like that.

“I’ve always said it’s a second- and third-effort league, but it seems like after Christmas it goes up a level and after 4 Nations, it really picks up to the highest level before playoff time.”

So much – or in the Blues’ case, so little – has happened since two very impressive wins against the Flames, 2-1 on Jan. 12 and 4-1 two nights later, that pulled the Blues within one point of the wild card. But since then, they laid an egg against Utah Hockey Club, 4-1 on Jan. 16, with a chance to distance themselves from that squad; they won 5-4 win a shootout at Vegas, a game in which the Blues frittered away a 4-2 lead in the last three-plus minutes needing the skills competition to win, then coming home and getting outscored 11-4 against Vegas, Dallas and now Vancouver, which pulled four points ahead of you.

Times are tough, and no matter what the immediate objective is with this particular group, the day was meant to be something the coaches can start laying a newfound foundation to, because the one prior has obviously not worked, and the three-game losing streak exposed some obvious flaws, with poor starts being at the forefront.

Against Vegas, the Blues fell behind 19 seconds in, against Dallas, it was 7:07 and on Monday, they were down 2:52 in.

“Another practice, compete against one another,” captain Brayden Schenn said. “Have some time off here before our next game. A chance to regroup and reset and go win two hockey games on the road.

“Obviously starts being one. We’re not coming from behind a whole lot. Just being ready to play and try and get that first one. It’s something that we have to focus on, bring an attitude and energy every night. Some nights you’re not going to feel your best, but at the end of the day, you have to dig in and battle hard for one another and we’ve got to get back to that.”

The Blues were by no means Pearl Harbored with Tuesday’s practice. They knew what was coming, and the only ones to miss were Pavel Buchnevich (maintenance day) and Brandon Saad, who was placed on waivers at 1 p.m. (CT) Tuesday as the first of what could be many dominoes to fall to a roster that continues to underachieve.

Defenseman Scott Perunovich was traded to the New York Islanders on Monday.

“I always believe you have to have a reason why and how you’re doing things and what the purpose of the practice is,” Montgomery said. “I told them it’s not a punishment, it’s about us getting better in an area that is not up to the standard that we want it to be at, is in our battle levels.”